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Post by howard lee on Aug 6, 2024 10:24:07 GMT -5
"My surmising: Why not Shapiro? He's Jewish..."
That's all I need to know.
ON EDIT: This was not directed at you, Evan, but is more of a
general statement about a large percentage of our fellow citizens.
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Post by Cornflake on Aug 6, 2024 10:28:39 GMT -5
"Shapiro for AG?"
I like him right where he is. AG's are easy to come by. No reason to lose a popular governor to get one.
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Post by epaul on Aug 6, 2024 11:18:15 GMT -5
I think the pick was based on campaign energy. And energy doesn't come from the middle, energy comes from the edges. Walz will feed the energy of Kamala's "base" while Shapiro would have lessened it. Ride the Kamala wave and hope the energy and optimism of the ticket brings enough of the middle along with it to win.
Both Harris and Trump picked a VP to feed their base, not the middle. But of the two, Walz will prove have a much greater appeal to the middle than Vance, to whatever degree that matters.
Both JD and Walz will be tied to their respective edges. But, Walz is at heart a moderate fellow who likes beer, fishing, and football, and that will shine through. And Walz has a long congressional career marked by moderation and working both sides of aisle to help offset the progressive joyride the current MN legislature just took.
On the campaign trail, Walz will appear to be the good-hearted, wise uncle who is just trying to settle the family arguments down and get everyone back to the dinner table. Walz looks reassuringly moderate.
Unlike JD. No moderate reassurance to be found in that visage. Yond J.D. has a lean and hungry look coupled with a personal history marked by ambition, the only constant to be found.
Not my bias. Polls will reveal. Amongst moderates, Vance's negatives will be off the charts while Walz will do pretty well.
So, Walz is a good pick. Walz will keep the progressive base energized without making the middle retch. Which Vance is doing. Vance is a bad pick. Base is happy, but middle is retching.
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Post by howard lee on Aug 6, 2024 11:36:27 GMT -5
"Walz will feed the energy of Kamala's "base" while Shapiro would have lessened it."
This directly addresses the point I made at the top of the page here.
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Aug 6, 2024 12:45:38 GMT -5
...fellow who likes beer... If liking beer is a strong trait for a VP, Trump should have picked Brett Kavanaugh. |
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Post by billhammond on Aug 6, 2024 13:21:03 GMT -5
...fellow who likes beer... If liking beer is a strong trait for a VP, Trump should have picked Brett Kavanaugh. Actually, Walz doesn't drink coffee or alcohol. That and other info in this Strib excerpt: After weeks of swirling speculation over Kamala Harris’ running mate, the sitting vice president has tapped Gov. Tim Walz for the Democratic ticket. Those who have known Walz for years have collected nuggets of information about the life and times of the second-term DFL governor. He and his wife since 1994, Gwen, have two children: Hope, who recently graduated from college in Montana, and Gus, who is in public high school in St. Paul. The couple met when both were high school teachers in temporary classrooms in Nebraska. The first lady said she was irked by his loud voice disrupting her classroom. Their children were conceived through IVF and fertility treatments — as Walz has said, “There’s a reason we named her Hope.” Walz doesn’t drink alcohol or coffee. His beverage of choice is Diet Mountain Dew, lots of it. He got a DWI in Nebraska in 1995 before he quit drinking. He is unfailingly punctual. He rides in the front passenger seat of the state SUV when he’s driven by state troopers because he gets carsick in the back seats. He taught English in China in 1989 and can still converse in Mandarin. He grew up in Valentine, Neb. He is a 1982 graduate of Butte High School in Butte, Neb. He had 24 kids in his graduating class and always adds that “12 were cousins.” His father died of lung cancer when Walz was 19. His mother, Darlene Rose, still lives in Nebraska and occasionally comes to visit him at the Capitol. Walz earned his undergraduate degree from Chadron State College, a public school in Chadron, Neb. He earned an M.S. from what is now Minnesota State Mankato. He taught geography at Mankato West High School before being elected to Congress. He also coached football and helped the school win a state championship. He was the faculty adviser to the student Gay-Straight Alliance. Walz is a runner who has slimmed down and has talked about doing the Twin Cities Marathon or 10-mile race that stretches past the governor’s residence on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. He owns and tinkers around on a vintage blue International Scout, a four-wheel-drive vehicle that International Harvester stopped producing in 1980. He has custom plates that read, “ONE MN,” his campaign slogan for his gubernatorial bid. He and his chief of staff Chris Schmitter have been together professionally much longer than most reality-show marriages. Schmitter, 40, has been with Walz for 18 years. In his state Capitol office, he has on display hundreds of challenge coins that he’s traded and collected for years with military from around the world. Walz served in the Army National Guard and recently started receiving a monthly pension payment. The governor made good on a promise to his son by adopting a rescue dog after he won statewide office and held a news conference to herald the arrival of the black Lab mix in 2019. The gentle giant, named Scout, silently greets visitors at the door and hangs out with guests during public events. The governor and Scout make daily morning visits to an off-leash Twin Cities dog park. Walz was elected to Congress in 2006, the same year as Attorney General Keith Ellison, former U.S. Reps. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. When Giffords visited Minnesota to celebrate the passage of gun safety measures, both Ellison and Walz said she was the star of the freshman class, the one everyone thought would one day be elected president. |
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Post by coachdoc on Aug 6, 2024 13:58:09 GMT -5
Just remember, whatever she says is a lie. Sourpuss. Relax. |
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Post by theevan on Aug 6, 2024 14:22:41 GMT -5
Walz has a Gus! Out of admiration for our own epaul.
I know it's been a wild ride to this point but one blessing of it all is the campaign season has been mercifully shortened.
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Post by theevan on Aug 6, 2024 15:10:52 GMT -5
"My surmising: Why not Shapiro? He's Jewish..." That's all I need to know.
ON EDIT: This was not directed at you, Evan, but is more of a
general statement about a large percentage of our fellow citizens.
Thanks for the edit, "stormntwang" (still my favorite screen name ever). I was worried I had offended, which I certainly didn't intend. |
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Post by billhammond on Aug 6, 2024 16:09:56 GMT -5
More from the Strib:
Walz’s ascension to the ticket leaves questions for Minnesota. Under the state Constitution, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become governor if Walz resigns, but he’s not on the ballot in Minnesota this fall and could wait until after the November election to step down.
Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Nation, would become Minnesota’s first woman and first Native American governor.
The president of the state Senate would then become the state’s lieutenant governor. The state Senate is currently tied 33-33 pending a November special election to replace former state Sen. Kelly Morrison, who is running for Congress. If Democrats retain control, Senate President Bobby Joe Champion would become Minnesota’s first Black lieutenant governor.
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Post by billhammond on Aug 6, 2024 16:21:37 GMT -5
He won the first of six terms in Congress in 2006 from a mostly rural southern Minnesota district and used the office to champion veterans issues. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard, rising to command sergeant major, one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military, although he didn’t complete all the training before he retired so his rank for benefits purposes was set at master sergeant.
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Post by dradtke on Aug 6, 2024 16:38:20 GMT -5
The southern MN district had long been a safe Republican seat, and Gutknecht was a fixture. Then along came an unknown high school teacher and won the seat. Republicans tried for years to beat him and never could. After he left to run for governor it reverted to Republican control.
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Post by dradtke on Aug 6, 2024 16:40:50 GMT -5
I love this. Republicans are attacking Walz over a bill he signed allowing felons to vote. Who's the convicted felon, out on bail while awaiting sentencing, in this race?
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Post by Cornflake on Aug 6, 2024 16:56:37 GMT -5
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Post by howard lee on Aug 6, 2024 17:04:05 GMT -5
"My surmising: Why not Shapiro? He's Jewish..." That's all I need to know.
[...] ON EDIT: This was not directed at you, Evan, but is more of a
general statement about a large percentage of our fellow citizens.
Thanks for the edit, "stormntwang" (still my favorite screen name ever). I was worried I had offended, which I certainly didn't intend.
You didn't offend. You simply shone a light into that particular dark corner.
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Post by aquaduct on Aug 7, 2024 19:39:02 GMT -5
I love this. Republicans are attacking Walz over a bill he signed allowing felons to vote. Who's the convicted felon, out on bail while awaiting sentencing, in this race? is that person currently voting? Or is that just another dumb cheap shot? |
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Post by factorychef on Aug 7, 2024 19:46:29 GMT -5
Donnie Trump for one! Isn't he a felon?
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Post by factorychef on Aug 8, 2024 5:55:56 GMT -5
Fox and Friends are just freaking out the last 3 days.I've never seen them panicked like this.
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Post by Cornflake on Aug 8, 2024 6:48:10 GMT -5
Walz gives the media something to write about. After the novelty fades, I don't think either Vance or Walz will significantly affect the outcome. But I've been wrong before. (Back in '03, I think.)
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Post by theevan on Aug 8, 2024 8:25:54 GMT -5
Walz gives the media something to write about. After the novelty fades, I don't think either Vance or Walz will significantly affect the outcome. But I've been wrong before. (Back in '03, I think.) Probably the case. I still think Shapiro would have been the better choice and the better chance to win. |
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